X¿ - The Threat Interview

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Two members of the Egosoft team tell us all about their new space simulation in the living X-Universe.

By Richard Aihoshi - 'Jonric'

In X - Beyond the Frontier, German-based developer Egosoft introduced a distant and completely unknown sector of space it named the X-Universe. The game cast you in the role of a test pilot assigned to conduct a short flight through familiar territory. However, something unexpectedly and inexplicably went awry, transporting you farther than you could ever imagine. You were completely ignorant of your new surroundings and your vessel was damaged. Luckily, you were able to find someone willing to fix it, but you then had to earn the money to pay him back by travelling from base to base, buying and selling the various goods they manufacture. When you had accomplished that, you could start improving your ship with new technology, finding more remote and more profitable trading routes, and finally, looking for clues that might allow you to return home.

The trading-oriented gameplay was spiced with some combat action against various opponents. This combination worked well, garnering a number of positive reviews and helping to make the game successful enough to merit an expansion pack called X-Tension. Approximately two and a half years later, X¿ - The Threat is moving towards completion at Egosoft. The team has been relatively quiet for most of the development period, which served only to pique our curiosity. Accordingly, we recently set out to find out more about the new game. Luckily, our inquiry to the studio found Fiction Co-Author Darren Astles and Development Director Bernd Lehahn in the mood to tell us about it at length. As a result, we are please to present this extensive and informative X¿ - The Threat Interview in which we learn about the return to the living X-Universe.

Action Vault: To begin with, since it appears the title has changed, what is correct? What kind of game is it, and what are your primary design goals? And with respect to classifying X¿, what genres have influenced its design?

Darren Astles: The current English title of the game is X¿ - The Threat. The race of the Khaak is not in the name anymore.

Well firstly let me answer the genre question. X Beyond the Frontier (the original game in the series) has its influences firmly in the classic game Elite. A space simulation, a living, breathing universe where you could simply watch the universe in all its graphic glory as the stations, factories and ships all went about their business. But also you as the player were involved in a dramatic storyline, which led to the creation of your own trading empire and good old first person action!

X-Tension, an upgrade to XBTF, gave a more complex universe, a bigger universe, more ships, more goods, more missions, yes more of just about everything. In X¿, we set out to achieve these things again, but also to utilize the latest graphic capabilities of today's cards, create a heart thumping storyline and give the player even more choice in playing their character.

It's not just about being bigger and looking better, which of course it does, it's about creating an experience.

Action Vault: What's the basic concept of X¿? What are the major underlying themes, conflicts, et al? What are the strengths of X - Beyond the Frontier that you want to retain and build on, and what kind of overall gameplay experience do you want to provide?

Darren Astles: Someone once said to me that they remember playing Elite all those years ago. When they first loaded up XBTF they spent the first day simply flying around the initial sector just saying "Wow! I've come home." Our intention is that they will see the same leap from XBTF to X¿.

A key element of XBTF is the "free form" game. Yes, there is an underlying storyline that the player, if they wish, can undertake. But they are free to come and go, do part of this storyline and return when it suits them. X¿ retains this longevity, this freedom of choice and in fact increases it with the multitude of extra ships, missions, sectors and other items just waiting to be discovered.

Action Vault: What has happened in the backstory before the game begins, and how does it tie in with theoriginal? What is the main storyline within X¿, and what is the ultimate objective?

Darren Astles: The X-Universe (the game universe and the fiction that surrounds it) had been a place of many conflicts between the different races that occupy it. It currently stands in somewhat of an uneasy truce. Races have collaborated and trading, monetary and time systems have been adopted by most. This "peace" is about to be broken, in such a way that the player will have to learn new skills, new technologies both offensive and defensive if they are to survive.

In X Beyond the Frontier you searched for a way home after being stranded in a distant area of space know as the X Universe. Now its time to go back! A new THREAT is rising in the X Universe. In X2, the player takes on the role of a pilot indigenous to the X-Universe. The story begins with our soon-to-be hero and his companion attempting to steal a ship and after a failed, action packed escape attempt in a dense nebulae, he soon finds himself aboard a security ship, destined to live out his days on the cold, prison-mining world of Artur.